Falcon Ski Teams Strong in MVC's

by Bob McPhee
     
     RUMFORD - The Mountain Valley boys' and girls' skiers did their best throughout their respective seasons to attain their goals.
     This certainly came to a head last month when the boys' team (combined alpine and Nordic) won the Mountain Valley Conference championships and the combined girls' team placed second in MVC's.
     MV did record a sweep in skimeister as Kymberly Couch won girls and Carl Zurhorst won boys. The accomplishments of the MV ski teams are tradition rich and they have won MVC crowns in 2006, 2009 and 2010.
     This type of drive and mindset was evident when the teams assembled three months ago.
     “We have a very young alpine team,” said Mountain Valley coach Seth Fournier. “But we should be solid. I expect to have a winning season with strong finishes at both states and MVC's.”
     There are four events - slalom, giant slalom, cross country (classical and freestyle). GS is set with a turning radius of approximately 22 meters with double poles and flags. This is a higher speed event with longer courses. Slalom is set with a radius of about 12 meters and is slower with a shorter course.
     Cross-country courses range from a 1K sprint to a 7.5-K course. At Black Mountain, there are five different 5 K courses, including the famous "High School Hill."
     “The kids enter every race with a great attitude,” said Nordic coach Ray Broomhall. “They work well together as a team and approach each event as a team cheering on one another all the time and striving to do their personal best and better their time from the race before. They are a great bunch of kids to work with and I have enjoyed my season with them.”
     Zurhorst accumulated 46 points to win the skimeister by 11 points over Trevor Timberlake of Livermore Falls. The Falcon senior finished 14th in giant slalom, 22nd slalom, eighth in cross-country classical and clinched it with a second in cross-country free style.
     Teammate Toni Weber placed fourth (82 points) in skimeister and Nick Woods, injured last season, would have been in the running, but was disqualified in the slalom.
     In the team race, MV totaled 131 points to 205 by Winthrop. This included GS 20; S 19; XC-C 48 and XC-F 44.
     Couch was consistent, 17th GS; 16th S; 11th XC-C and ninth in XC-FS for 53 points, 10 points ahead of Lexi Niedner of LF.
     In the Class B state meet at Saddleback in Rangeley, the Falcons finished third in both alpine and Nordic behind Yarmouth and Falmouth. In the slalom (79), Nathan Nicols was 12th, Woods 19th, Darren Jodrey 22nd and Eric Billings 26th. Nicols was seventh in GS; Nathan Papsadora 12th, Jodrey 13th and David Adley.
     MV had a trio in the top 10 of slalom, juniors Kera Miller (seventh) and Courtney Carlson (eighth) and senior Shelby Moore was 10th. In the giant slalom, Miller and Moore finished 10th and 15th, respectively.